Inspired By Buble

About two weeks ago I wrote my vows while on break at work.

Yes, I realize that there are probably a few things that are weird about that sentence:

1.) The wedding is a few weeks shy of being a year away, which might seem a little too soon to be writing vows.

2.) Writing vows at work probably sounds far from romantic.

Both of these points can be explained by the fact that inspiration can come at anytime, and this case was no exception. I had no intention of writing my vows at work, epecially not on the back dock, sitting at a picnic table surrounded by some of my co-workers eating their lunch. So what drove me to write my vows right then and there?

I had just clocked out for my break and was headed outside to sit out my 30 minutes on the back dock when I heard this little tune play over the restaurant speakers:



Zac and I hold a special spot in our relationship for Michael Buble's crooning tunes. Mr. Buble has an amazing voice and his songs are always really romantic and fun. When we first started dating, the song "Home" held a special place for us. At that time, Zac was headed up north to his parents' ranch to work for a few weeks a month and it was definitely difficult to be away from each other. In case you've never heard the song....take a listen:

"Home" was the first song of Buble's that we had heard and we were pretty much hooked after that. We love listening and dancing to his Sinatra-ish sounds. On our 3rd anniversary we went to Gigi's Italian Restaurant (thanks to our friend Claire who got us a gift certificate as an anniversary gift). After being seated at our table the music changed and Buble started playing. His music played the whole time we sat in the restaurant enjoying our anniversary dinner. It was certainly just a coincidence (the music fit the vibe of the restaurant pretty perfectly) but it was a sweet little touch that made our dinner even more special.

From the first time we heard the song "Everything" it immediately became one of our favorites. The song can be found on our playlists for every road trip and is often playing on our radio while we prepare meals and eat at the table. Occasionally, we text each other a line or two when we're thinking of one another. We will definitely be dancing to this song on our wedding day but it will not be our first dance song. (Another song has been reserved for that special moment.) This song is also Zac's personalized ringtone on my phone, so I hear it everytime he calls. Needless to say, whenever I hear "Everything" I get a little happy and smiley (especially when I am at work).On this particular day hearing this song inspired me to put to paper the words that were swimming in my head.

When I thought about writing my vows, I never imagined myself sitting in my all white uniform penning those special words that I would say to Zac next year but, c'est la vie, that's what happened. As soon as I started writing I couldn't stop and before I knew it I was fixing my make-up (again I hate crying in public so at work a little mist was all that I would allow myself) and clocking back in with my vows tucked safely in my server book.

Even though those words are written on the back of a sheet of paper from my server pad, and will most likely be edited and added to over the next year, I am definitely keeping that original copy of my vows. They are a constant reminder to me of the love that Zac and I share and the exciting reality that in a year from now we'll be husband and wife.

Graduation!!!!

Finally I can say that I am a college graduate!

I am a Fresno State Alumi; a Bulldog, Class of 2011!

It is such an unbelievable feeling to know that I did this. As I mentioned here, it was a quite a journey to get here. It took a lot of hard work, but it has certainly paid off and I am so proud of this accomplishment!

On Wednesday May 18th, I took my two last finals. The weather that day started out pretty gloomy but by the time I walked out of my art final, the sun (very fittingly) came out and shined brightly. When I pulled up to my house I heard a car horn honking; Amanda was in her car waiting for me to arrive. I had to hold in my screams. It finally hit me that I had just taken my last test before graduation. Amanda greeted me with this little wonderful treat :

A bouquet of flowers and the goods to make some strawberry margaritas!

*This is the fun balloon and bubbly treat the Zac's parents

brought for me when they arrived at our house on Tuesday night.*

Nobody was home when we went into the house. Mark, Tammie, Sarah and Baby Grayson were spending the day visiting family in Chowchilla, and Zac was at work. While we waited for everyone to get home, we put on some music and started making some drinks to celebrate.

Amanda blending up some yummy drinks.

Since no one was home, we had to rely on my camera's self timer and the kitchen counter to get a picture of us and our very large margaritas...hence the ducking down pose in this picture.

 

When Mark, Tammie, Sarah, and Grayson returned they brought with them all the goodies to make tacos. The night turned into a very fun margarita/taco night. It was definitely a preview of the weekend celebrations to come! 

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Graduation day was Saturday May 21st. I woke up before my alarm clock, excited like a little kid at Christmas. I was glad that, while I woke up tired, I didn't wake up TOO tired. The night before, after the engagement party everyone headed back to our place and we had a little bit of an "after party". We pulled out Yahtzee, popped open a few more champagne bottles, and stayed up playing games and prepping a few things for the post graduation bbq. Though I probably should have gone to sleep earlier than I did, I had so much fun that night. Zac and I are so glad that our house is becoming the house that everyone goes to. We're looking forward to the day when the backyard sitting area is complete and our indoor living spaces are fully furnished so that everyone has a place to relax and enjoy their visit.

Graduation didn't start until 9:30am but the information sheet I received when I bought my cap and gown said that doors opened at 8:00am and graduates should arrive early. There was also an incentive to arrive early. This year has been Fresno State's Centennial Celebration year. The school opened it's doors on September 11, 1911. To celebrate the centennial graduation, the school was going to hand out celebratory golden stoles to the first 1600 graduates. There were over 5000 graduates this year and although not all of them would be attending the main graduation on Saturday (many people decided to only go to their department graduations) the vibe on campus the week of finals was to get to graduation early. So I arrived at the Save Mart Center loading dock at 7:00am. Thus began a very long but very satisfying day!

Graduation started at 9:30am and ended just after noon. Walking out onto the floor with the other graduates in my department was something pretty spectacular. There were so many people in the building that it was a little overwhelming. Even though there were thousands of people in the stands, I saw Mark and Tammie the second I walked out. They were at the end of their row and I caught sight of Mark's light blue shirt and beaming smile. Further down the row I could see my parents. My mom was looking around, almost frantically. She didn't spot me until after I had already sat down and texted her. Everyone else in the row had waved hello and sat back down but my poor mom stayed standing looking from section to section to find me. The moment she finally saw me was pretty priceless and I'll always remember it.

Shortly before the ceremony officially started, I spotted Mark walking down one of the side aisles, getting closer to get a better shot with his camera. He was able to snap this photo before one of the ushers came over and told him that he had to go back to his seat.

 

After he returned to his seat my parents tried their chances of sneaking a few photos in the same spot before they were caught. I felt like I was having a little personal photoshoot even among all of the other graduates I was surrounded by.

 

It was pretty cool to be a part of the Centennial Graduation Ceremony. Watching the video slideshows with pictures of the school throughout the years made me not only excited to be graduating, but to be graduating from this school with this group of people.

It felt so great to see my name listed in the graduation program.

After the ceremony ended, I headed outside to meet those that

were able to make it to the ceremony. The weather outside was beautiful!

 

Once I was able to locate my crew on the lawn outside of the Save Mart Center, I was greeted with smiles, hugs, kisses, and flowers. It was such an outpouring of love and pride and it all meant so much to me.

I know that my parents were very excited for this moment. It's been a long time in the making and they have both told me how proud they are of me for reaching this accomplishment.

My dad knows firsthand the work that goes in to finishing school. He worked hard to get his Master's Degree in Human Resources when I was a little girl. I remember watching him type up papers on our type writer (yes you read that correctly, it says typewriter). He spent many nights up late reading and putting together projects. My father is a quiet man, so hearing him say that he was proud of me after graduation was something special.

My mom has always been the biggest cheerleader for her children. Everything that we've worked for, involved ourselves in, and achieved, she has been there for. She has been so supportive of me and my educational goals. When I had difficulty going back to school, she was right there by my side. I am very thankful to her for this support.

One of the great things about having Zac in my life (aside from being unbelievably happy with this man) is that I get another set of parents in my life. Zac has a wonderful, welcoming family and Mark and Tammie are amazing people. They've always treated me like one of their own. Over the last six years I have gotten so close to them, they have become my family, and I was so happy that they were able to make it to graduation.

Their smiles in this picture make me want to cry every time I look at it.

That afternoon/evening we had a bbq at our house to celebrate the occasion. My parents brought a cake.....

...which, of course, Zac couldn't resist.

It was the perfect ending to a fantastic day!

Our Engagement Dinner

Back in February, I got an email from Sarah (Zac's sister and my maid of honor) saying that she wanted to put together a little dinner for Zac and I to celebrate our engagement. She wanted to know who we wanted to invite so that she could start getting her plans in order. It was so sweet of her and we were very excited to get together with everyone and enjoy a special night of celebration.

After thanking Sarah for the offer we sent her a list of people that we wanted to include in the event. We decided to keep it small, only inviting our immediate families and their significant others, grandparents, and the bridal party. It wasn't that we wanted to exclude anyone, it was just that the event could so easily snowball into a large party rather than a quaint dinner. We wanted to avoid taking advantage of Sarah's generosity and having a preview of the wedding reception unfold on the patio of the restaurant. Plus, as everyone lives in different cities and have all been busy with their own things, we thought that keeping the dinner small would give us a great opportunity to catch up with close family and friends.

It was decided that the dinner would take place the weekend of my graduation. The families would already be in town for the graduation ceremony and the girls would certainly be in town for the dress shopping adventure. It seemed to be a perfect time to plan the dinner, rather than asking everyone to make a second trip out at another time. (It definitely made for a fun filled weekend.) We chose to have the dinner on the patio at Daily Grill (which will most likely be the site of our rehearsal dinner as well). Zac and I just love the atmosphere of the restuarant, the food is fantastic, and as an added bonus it is right down the street from our house. So Sarah ran with these details and put together a spectacular dinner celebration...all from a state away.

Two months after the first emails were exchanged regarding the dinner, Zac and I received this invitation in the mail. Miss Sarah had created the invitation all on her own. The yellow flowers were hand drawn. Sarah had emailed us about a dozen different designs that she had come up with for the invitation and asked us to pick our favorite. We couldn't believe how much work she was putting into this dinner. I mean seriously, how sweet is it of her to create the stationary for the invitations?!

Sarah's creation! *Excuse the little blurred box by Sarah's name.

It was not part of her design, I just thought that she would appreciate it if

we blocked her phone number from being spread all over the internet.*

So on Friday May 20th, just hours after saying yes to the perfect dress, it was time to head over to Daily Grill for the dinner. Zac's family had been staying at our house the whole week and while we were getting ready Zac and I noticed that the house got more and more quiet as people left to head over to the restaurant early. When Zac and I arrived to the restaurant we saw all the hard work that went into this dinner. The tables were decorated with vases of flowers (yellow and white daisies that looked so beautiful we think we may have to use the idea for our centerpieces at the wedding), candles, and mini yellow and white tissue paper pom poms. The girls had baked and decorated cupcakes (red velvet and lemon) that were on display by the table, and Sarah had bottles of champagne chilling in ice buckets. To go along with the champagne, my mom had added the ribbon and flowers that she used on the wedding bells to the stems of champagne flutes and wine glasses that she put on the table for each guest. It looked beautiful and we were (still are) so amazed by the work that everyone did to make this dinner special.

Amanda putting the final touches on the table.

After hugging everyone and taking a bunch of pictures, we all settled into our seats and Sarah opened the night with a few words. Her speech included words of thank you to everyone who came out that evening to celebrate...

...when she started talking about the relationship that Zac and I have and how she views the two of us together, the waterworks started and they were hard to turn off. It was such a sweet speech and I quickly transformed from a laughing and smiling Teeny to this hot mess:

Sarah is of course Zac's sister, but over the last 6 years she's become a sister to me, too. No one has to remind me how lucky I am. Not only did I land myself an amazing, sweet, charming, wonderful man, but I also got an incredibly special sister in law out of the deal, too.

The night went off without a hitch. Sarah provided the group with a variety of delicious appetizers, the champagne was flowing, and there was never a quiet moment as everyone was happily mingling.

So enough babbling on about the night, I think these photos do a better job and expressing the good time we all had.

Me with my parents after Zac and I arrived at the restaurant.

 

Zac of course always captures the most flattering

pictures of Amanda and I before we are ready.

Being about 6'' (give or take a FOOT) shorter than Amanda,

it is no surprise that my whole body fits in this shot

while Amanda's head grazes the top of it.

The future in laws.

Zac's parents (Mark and Tammie) are on the left.

My parents (Roxanne and Abe) are on the right.

Mark and Tammie with their first grandbaby, Grayson.

Tammie is such a happy grandma.

We were happy that Zac's friend (and groomsman) Ryan was able

to make it. The night ended with the two of them rehashing some

 of their adventures and deciding that it was time to add at least

one more adventure to their list.

We were excited to see that Zac's Chapman grandparents

(his dad's parents) were able to make it to the dinner.

You might remember that we took our engagement photos

at their house just a few weeks ago. *Once we choose our three

favorites from that session I'll happily post those for all to see.*

My girls! I don't know what I would do without them!!

A more accurate representation!

My brother Michael. Easily the most generous,

selfless person I know.

Everyone enjoying the dinner/party.

Later, this will be known as 'Exhibit A'.

One big happy family....minus about 8 people. :P

Zac and I feel so lucky to have these amazing people in our lives. We had so much fun catching up with everyone and enjoying such wonderful company.

Thank you!

I Found The Dress!!!

On Friday May 20th, I had an appointment to go wedding dress shopping at David's Bridal. After getting a taste for dress shopping just one week before at Luftenburg's with my mom, I had an idea about what I liked and what I might be looking for. After my shopping trip to Luftenburg's I browsed through the David's Bridal website once again to narrow down the list of dresses that I wanted to try on. I chose 5 dresses from the website and made a list to take to the appointment. Here are the 5 dresses that I put on the list:

    

So on Friday, my maid of honor Sarah, my bridesmaids Amy and Amanda, Zac's mom Tammie, and my mom Roxanne joined me at David's Bridal to look for the perfect dress. I am so disappointed in myself. I neglected to bring my camera while dress shopping. This could have been a seriously huge mistake, but luckily I went with a group of ladies who came prepared with cameras in hand. A big thanks to these ladies for snapping pictures of each dress I tried on.

Amy, Sarah and Amanda waiting while I tried on dresses in the fitting room.

Kim, the consultant in charge of my appointment, was really great. She listened to what I was looking for and in addition to pulling the dresses that were on the list I brought in, she helped by suggesting a few other dresses that I might like. After taking a quick look around at the racks of dresses, it was time to start trying some on.

I tried on seven dresses and in the end there were three that really stood out. The votes were divided for a little bit until I tried the third dress on for the second time and the decision was clear. It was the only dress that made me hold back tears (I hate crying in public), and the dress that made my mom start crying and snapping pictures like crazy. The other dresses were both beautiful but there was just something about that third contender that made me say "This is the dress!".

I won't be posting any photos of me in THE dress. That will have to be a surprise for everyone to see on the big day. As it is, Zac will be avoiding my blog and my Facebook page until after the wedding. When I returned from dress shopping I asked him if he wanted to see the pictures of the dresses that I didn't choose. He very quickly shook his head and smiled. He told me that the only dress he wanted to see me in was the dress that I chose and he was excited to see it for the very first time on our wedding day. Of course this will make the next year pretty difficult for me. When I get excited about things I like to share it with everyone, especially Zac. Keeping this dress a secret, especially since I am so excited about it, is going to drive me crazy. Thankfully, I have a few saving graces out there who have offered an ear and have so generously agreed to listen to me blabber on and on about the dress whenever I feel the urge to show it to Zac. (Poor things might not realize what exactly they've agreed to!)

So here are the two dresses that caught my eye and held strong in the top three until THE dress found me.

Dress #1

This dress was the first dress that I tried on at David's Bridal. It was one of the five dresses on the list I brought in with me.

I loved the simplicity of it. There were small touches of bling and shine that made it feel special. The light weight fabric was definitely a bonus. Some of the dresses I tried on were SO heavy. Just walking around in them felt like a work-out; dancing the night away certainly wouldn't be an option.

This was the only dress I tried on at David's that had a corset back. The corset certainly did wonders for my figure but it took a while to get situated. I'm sure had I chosen this dress that my girls would have had quite a time putting me in it the day of the wedding.  

Dress #2

The second dress was still elegant but added in a little bit of fun to the mix. The whole bust was covered in fabric flowers and the silk chaffon laid lightly on the top of the dress; the pleats floating to the side.

The dress did a great job at maximizing my bust and properly accentuating my rear. Not surprisingly, not too many dresses  were able to do this. :P I have a smaller chest but JLo has nothing on my booty. Finding a dress that didn't "hug" that specific curve too much was slighltly challenging...at least in my eyes. A few of my girls were all for showing off the ba-dunk-a-dunk.

I tried it on with the cathedral length veil and it was almost the one. The only problem was that I didn't get emotional in it. I didn't have a special connection, that unique "this is it" feeling when I tried it on. Don't get me wrong, it was certainly a contender for a reason. All the girls thought that this dress had Teeny  written all over it. For the most part it really did. I loved the fun, less traditional aspect of the dress, but it just didn't scream "wedding" to me. It felt too much like a party dress. If I could find it in a shorter version it would definitely be a cute dress to wear to the rehearsal dinner or maybe even to the bridal shower. Cute is not the look I'm going for, but if it was, I'd be all over this dress.

So what does my dress look like? Well, with my three wonderful ladies, my two amazing mamas, and one helpful bridal consultant, I was able to find a dress that was just what I was looking for. I wanted to find a dress that was exactly like my ring: simple, elegant, with sparkle.



When Zac heard that this was what I told Kim, he got excited. Since the day he proposed, he has assured me that if I am not in love with the ring he will happily exchange it for something else that meets my fancy. I wouldn't dream of it! I love the ring he chose for me. It's perfect in so many ways. The thin band is so elegant and dainty. Just knowing that he deliberated over which ring would be perfect for me and decided on this one makes it a pretty special ring. It makes me feel like I'm wearing a piece of treasure on my finger. I definitely think that the dress I chose compliments the ring nicely. I can't wait until Zac sees me, walking down the aisle towards him, on our wedding day. Only 343 more days to go, right?! :P